There are many situations where it may be desirable to automatically determine in real-time when and/or where a boundary or border between respectively different geographical regions has been crossed. Ability to automatically detect such a boundary crossing event might be useful in the context of interstate trucking or other modes of transportation across boundaries between geographical regions having respectively different tax regimes. Without such ability, entities carrying out interstate trucking within the continental U.S. may find it difficult to conveniently calculate the proper amount of fuel tax that is due to respective states based on travel within those states. For example, accurate calculation of such fuel tax might typically require tedious logging of odometer readings at times when each state is entered and exited. Furthermore, a credit corresponding to fuel tax paid at the time of any fuel purchase made while within that state might need to be subtracted from the fuel tax due to that state. It has typically been practical to perform such calculations only following return to an office where clerical operations including entry of these odometer readings and fuel purchases into a computer for processing can be carried out.
To automatically determine in real-time when or where a boundary between geographical regions has been crossed would conventionally require ability to access and process large amounts of data. Any conventional system possessing such ability would likely be expensive and cumbersome.
It would therefore be desirable if a convenient method could be found to model the area in the vicinity of such a boundary in a way that would facilitate calculations as necessary for determination of when the boundary has been crossed to a reasonable accuracy. It would furthermore be desirable if the model employed were able to simplify calculations to the point where such calculations could be easily carried out in real-time by an onboard computing device.
Thus, a heretofore unaddressed need exists in the industry to address the aforementioned deficiencies and inadequacies.